Mail-bag catcher and deliverer.



L. B. JOHNSTON. MAIL BAG cATcHER AND DELIVERER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1909.

- Patented Apr. 6, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Witnwoco L. B. JOHNSTON.

MAIL BAG CATGHER AND DHLIVERER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.10, 1909.

.917 3Q7 Patented Apr. 6, 1909.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

attorney,

tl'NlitE sTaTns raTnivT LASURE B. JOHNSTON, OF LORAIN, OHIO.

MAIL-BAG CATCHER AND DELIVERER.

Application filed February 10, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAS'LTRE B. JOHNSTON, citizen of the United States,ii'esidii'ig at Lorain, in the county of Lorain and State of Ohio, haveinvented new and useful lm pro vements in Mail-Bag Catchers andDeliverers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to apparatus for putting mail bags on and takingthe same otf moving cars; and it consists in the peculiar and ad'antageous apparatus hereinafter described and particularly pointed outin the claims appended.

In the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification:Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating diagrannnatically the arrangementof my novel apparatus when a mail bag is to be put on and another mailbag taken from a air that is moving in the direc tion indicated by thearrow. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing one of the platform devices of myimprovements with the swinging element thereof in the position saidelement occupies when it is to deliver a bag to or take a bag from amoving car. Fig. 3 is a plan view of said device showing the swingingelement in the position in which it is placed after a bag is caught oris delivered, and also illustrating a bag connected with said swingingelement. Fig. r is an elevation showing the outer side of the platformdevice with the swinging element in the same position as in Fig. Fig. 5is a. detail view taken from a point within the car and illustrating thear rangement of one of the car devices relative to a side wall of thecar and the door open ing therein, and also illustrating the car devicein full lines in the position in which it is placed for operation.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of thedrawings, re fer-ring to which A. is a mail car having the usual dooropenings 4 in its side walls Z).

-3 and C are the car devices of my novel apparatus, and D and E are theplatform devices; the said devices D and E being located at oppositesides of the car track, as represented in Fig. 1.

The car devices B and Care. reversely arranged, Fig. l, but areotherwise identical in construction, and thereforea detailed descriptionof the device B shown in Fig. 5 will suffice to impart a definiteunderstanding of both devices B and C. The said de- Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented April 6, 1909.

Serial No. 477,152.

vice B, Fig. 5, is preferably made up of a journal bearing 0, connectedin a swiveled manner to the adjacent car wall, a fixed keeper-loop (Z,arrange-d back of the bearing 0, a rock-shaft c journaled in the bearing0 and arranged in the keeper-loop (Z and having an angularly disposedhandle f at its rear end, and also having a forward por-- tion g, ofapproximate right angle formation, and a spring clip 71, mounted on theouter arm of the said portion 9. The said spring clip it is designed toreceive and yieldingly hold one of the bag rings hereinafter described,when a bag is to be delivered from the car to a platform device on thelefthand side of the car, with reference to the direction in which thecar moving, and after the bag ring is placed in engagement with the saidclip, the portion 9 of the rockshaft is swung outwardly through the dooropening until the handle of the rock-shaft brings up against the innerside of the car i all so as to limit the outward movement of the portion9 and assure the same remaining in the said position. I would also haveit understood that the portion 9 of the rockshaft is placed in theposition stated, when the device B is to be used to take a bag from theplatform device located at the right-- hand side of the car withreference to the direction of movement thereof. Subsequent to thedelivery of a bag from or the taking of a bag upon the portion 9 of therock shaft, an attendant within the car rocks the rockshaft through themedium of the handle f so as to swing the portion 9 inwardly through thedoor opening a, after which the said attendant may swing the rockshaftas a whole upwardly, this because of the swivel connection between thebearing and the car wall, and place the outer arm of the portion g overthe bracket z'located above the opening a, after the manner illustratedby dotted lines in Fig. 5. In this latter position it will be manifestthat the car device leaves the door opeiiing a practically unobstructed,and yet when it is desired to use the said car device, the oute" arm ofthe portion g may be quickly and easily displaced from the bracket 2',and then the car device may be manipulated in the manner and for eitherof the purposes before described.

The platform devices I) are similar in construction, except that theyare reversely arranged for use at opposite sides of the car track, andtherefore a detailed description of the platform device D shown in Figs.1 2, 3 and a, will suflice to impart a definite l understanding of bothdevices D and E. The device D, Figs. 2, 3 and 4:, comprises a fixed postor upright j and a swinging elei ment; the said fixed post or uprightbeing preferably of wood, and the swinging element being preferably ofmetal. As clearly shown in the figures mentioned, the said swingingelement comprises a rock-shaft 7c, journaled in the post 7', as shown bydotted lines, a handle portion Z which extends at a i right angle fromone end of the rock-shaft l and is provided at an intermediate point ofl its length with an angularly disposed shoulder m located opposite theouter side of the post j, and a bag deliverer and receiver 1 extendingfrom the opposite end of the rock-shaft 7a, with reference to the handleportion Z. The said bag deliver-er and receiver comprises a loop 1%extending in the same general direction as the handle portion I Z, andan arm 37 which reaches in a curved manner from the outer end of theloop a and then extends in a direction substantially parallel to the cartrack. By virtue of the said construction of the swinging element of theplatform device, it will be manifest that when said swinging element isplaced in the position shown in Fig. 2, its shoulder m will bring upagainst the outer side of the post j and retain it in said position.Then when the rings of a bag are re- 1 ceived on the arm 10, and theswinging element is moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to thatshown in Fig. 3, until the shoulder on again brings up against the outerside of the post j to limit the swinging movement of the element, itwill be manifest that the rings on the bag will gravitate to the bightof the loop 17., and consequently both the swinging element and the bagwill be out of the way of passing cars, and the bag will be held by theswinging element in such manner that there is no liability of the bagbeing casually released and permitted to fall. Notwithstanding this,however, it will be noted that the bag received on the swinging elementmay be readily removed from said element by running the rings on the bagup the loop n and ofi the arm p.

My invention contemplates providing the bags to be handled with ringssuch as indicated by F, and when a bag so equipped is placed on theouter arm of the portion 9 o the car device Q, and a similar bag isplaced on the arm 10 of the platform device D, and the portion 9 of therock-shaft comprised in the car device B is set as shown in Fig. 1, andthe portion 9 of the rock-shaft comprised in the car device G issimilarly set, it will be manifest that incidental to the passage of thecar between the platform devices D and E, a bag will be taken from thearm p of platform device D to the outer arm of the rock-shaft comprisedin the car device B, and at the same time the bag on the outer arm ofthe rock-shaft of the car device C will be delivered to the arm p of theswinging element comprised in the platform device E.

I would have it understood at this point that while I have elected, forthe sake of convenience, to show the plat-form devices D and E atopposite sides of a single track, the said devices may obviously be usedto advantage at opposite sides of a double track.

It will be readily understood from the foregoing that the car devices aswell as the platform devices of my improvements are simple and. compactin construction, and at the same time are well adapted to withstandexposure to weather and the rough usage to which mail bag catchers anddeliverers are ordinarily subjected.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is:

1. In a device for delivering mail bags from and taking mail bags upon amoving car, the combination of a car wall having a door opening and abracket located above the said door opening, a bearing connected in aswiveled manner with the car wall at one side of the door opening, akeeper-loop connected to the car wall and arranged at the opposite sideof the swiveled bearing, with reference to the door opening, and arock-shaft extending through the. swiveled bearing and the keeper-loopand having an angularly disposed handle portion at its rear end and aportion, of approximate right-angle formation, at its forward end,substantially as and. for the purpose described.

2. A device adapted for location at the side of a railway track todeliver mail bags to and take mail bags from a moving car, comprising afixed upright or post, and a swinging element supported by the uprightor post and made up of a rock-shaft journaled in the upright andextending parallel to the track, a handle portion extending from one endof the rock-shaft and having a shoulder at an intermediate point of itslength adapted in two positions of the swinging element to bring upagainst the outer side of the upright, and a loop extending from theopposite end of the rock-shaft, with reference to the handle portion,and terminating at its outer end in an arm disposed approximatelyparallel to the track.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose described, devices located atopposite sides of a railway track .and comprising fixed uprights andreversely arranged swinging elements supported by the uprights and eachmade up of a rock-shaft journaled in its upright and extending parallelto the track, a handle portion extending from one portion of therock-shaft and having a shoulder at an intermediate point of its lengthadapted in two positions of the swinging element to bring up against theouter side of the upright, and a loop extending from the opposite end ofthe rock-shaft, with reference to the handle portion, and terminating atits outer end in an arm disposed approximately parallel to the track, incombination with a car having door openings and brackets located abovesaid door openings, bearings connected in a swiveled manner with the carwalls and arranged one in front and the other in rear of the adjacentdoor opening, keeper-loops connected to the car walls, and rock-shaftsextending through. the swiveled bearings and the keeper-loops and havingangularly disposed handle portions at their rear ends and portions, ofapproximate right angle formation at their forward ends.

t. In a device for delivering mail bags from and taking mail bags upon amoving car, the combination of a car wall having a door opening and alsohaving a suitable support located above said door opening, a bearingconnected with the car wall, at one side of the door opening, and.adapted to swing toward and from said door opening,

and a device journaled in and adapted toro'i independent of the bearingand to swing with sail bearing and also adapted in one position to beprojected through the door opening and in another position to be placedon the support located above said door opening.

5. A device adapted for location at the side of a railway track todeliver mail bags to and take mail bags from a moving car comprising afixed upright, and a swinging element supported by the upright andmounted to swing toward and from-the railway track and having a loopwhich terminates in an arm arranged approximately parallel to the track,and also having a handle portion equipped with an abutment adapted intwo positions of the swinging element to bring up against the side orthe element remote from the track.

in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing wituesses.

LASURE B. JOHNSTON. lVitnesses:

G. A. Franny, RALPH JOHNSTON.

